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JOHN B. SLAWSON, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

RECEIVING-BOX FOR PASSENGERS FARES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 17,899, dated July 28, 1857; Reissued May 4, 1858, No. 550.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, JOHN B. SLAwsoN, of the city of New Orleans, in the arish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, ave invented acertain new and useful Apparatus for the Prevention of Fraud on the Part of A Stage and Omnibus Drivers, Railroad-Conductors, &c., of which the following is a full,

y, side of the front end of the stage in elevation.

The object of my invention is to prevent stage and omnibus drivers, railroad conductors, and steamboat clerks from defrauding their employers by appropriating the fares of the passengers to their own use.

The invention consists in the use of a box securely locked and if necessary sealed by the employer, into which it is imperative that the passenger shall drop his fare, so constructed that the money deposited by the passenger shall be arrested by a receiving plate or apron secured at one side to a rockshaft, where it remains until the driver 'shall satisfy himself that it is genuine, which he is enabled to do by means of a glass light inserted into the front of the box for that purpose, after which he causes it to drop into a box arranged underneath for its rece tion by means of a lever secured to a cra upon the end of the rockshaft to which the receiving plate is attached; but, should the passenger not have in small change the amount of the fare then the driver gives the necessary change from a box behind him, he having been previously provided. by his em loyer with a given amount ofmoney an tickets for this purose and charged with the same, thus rengering access to the fares with this view un- Y necessary and the passenger having received change from the driver deposits his fare in the box. To prevent any evasion or fraud on the part of the driver, a card is posted in the most conspicuous part of the v omnibus notifying the passengers that unless they deposit their fare in the box they will render themselves liable to be called upon for a second fare and the driver himself dismissed if he receives a fare. In such an arrangement as this no doubt many attempts will be made by passengers to pass o spurious money upon the driver, but this is provided against by arranging a glass lightin the front part of the box,which enables the driver to scrutinize all money deposited, when if spurious he pulls the lever toward him, which, instead of dropping the money into the box below, turns the receiving apron or plate up on the rocking shaft as an axis until the money is brought against another glass plate arranged in the rear end of the receiving box on the inside of the stage, so that the money can be'distinctly seen by those on the inside. When in this position he informs the depositor that it is spurious money and demands the fare from him in genuine money, thus rendering it extremely precarious on the part of any one to make such an attempt. To enable the driver to know for a certainty when the fare on the plate or apron has been deposited in the box underneath before receiving the fare of another which otherwise might not actually be deposited through inadvertence, whereby the latter may claim to have deposited more money by mistake than he really had, a bell is so arranged that it shall be rung only when the lever has vbeen pressed back to its full capacity in order to depress the receiving plate sufliciently to insure the deposition of the money in the box. This lever is also so weighted as that it shall by its own gravity when the hold of the driver upon it is relaxed bring the plate or apron back into a horizontal plane, thus removing any risk of the money deposited by the passenger passing through into the receiving box before the driver has seen whether it was genuine, and recognized its value. The driver in addition to receiving a certain amount of change for the pur ose before mentioned is also provided wit a certain number of tickets with which, as with the change he is charged, so that parties requiring tickets in packs pay the amount to the driver.

To enable others skilled in the art to make, construct, and use my invention, I will now proceed to describe its parts in detail, reference being had to the accompanying drawn ing of the same, in which the elevated portion of the top of the stage is represented in Fig. 5, it being divided in the middle into two compartments, into one (A) of which is arranged my apparatus for the reception of the fare, and into the other (B) a hole through which the strap passes that enables the driver to keep the omnibus door closed, and through which he hands the necessary change to the passengers. The sides (a, (1,) which incase the operative part of the apparatus are formed by the partition and the side of the elevated portion of the stage before alluded to, and the end next the driver by its front side (b) into which is framed a glass light (c) so that the driver may be able kto see the inside of the box, the inner end of the box being formed by a heavy plate glass (d) framed into the sides (a, (1,) and side frames C and C', and the front and upper part of the money drawer. In the center of the glass plate (d) is formed amouth (e) through which the passengers drop their fare upon a receiving plate (f), arranged in the inside of the box, in sueh a manner that it may either be turned up or downupon an axis to which it is fastened, formed by a rockshaft (F) mounted in bearings secured .to the side frames C and C, upon one end of which is formed a crank shaft (g) to the wrist pin of which is attached one end of a lever (G), the other projecting forward through the front end of the stage within convenient reach of the driver. This lever is so weighted that when at rest it shall by virtue of its own gravity maintain the apron or plate (f) ina horizontal position for the reception of the fare as it is dropped through the orifice (e)y of the glass plate. In this position it is suffered to remain until the driver has satisfied himself of its being genuine and if necessary returned the change, when if correct he presses the lever (G) backward so as to depress the plate (f) on which the fare lies until it is in the position shown in dotted lines (7), Figs. 2, 3, and 4, which permits it to drop into a hopper (H) formedby the inclined surfaces (h and f) of the end pieces (D and D) which connect the side pieces (C and C) together, the hopper thus formed guiding it into the receiving drawer (I), where it remains until it is removed by the owner of the omnibus or the party deputed by him for this purpose. VBut should the money deposited on the apron (j) be spurious the driver instead of depositing it immediately in the box (I) draws the lever forward toward him, which turns the apron (f) upward against the glass (d) on the inside of the stage, as shown at (2) in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, and then calls the attention of the passenger depositing it to the fact, showing it to him through the glass plate (d), and again demands his fare in good money, which on being complied with is deposited as before described in the drawer (I) beneath, thus protecting the omnibus owners from fraud on the part of the passengers. But as it might so happen that the driver in a hurry may fail to press the lever (G) sufficiently far back to insure the de osition of the fare in the drawer below, w ereby the succeeding passenger on dropping his in may claim to have deposited by accident more than he really did and thus impose upon the driver, a bell (m) is so arranged on the opposite side of the box (see Fig. 4) as to be struck by a hammer (n) at the moment the plate (j) has been sufficiently depressed to drop the fare into the drawer, thus notifying the driver of the fact, this being effected by means of a small lever (o) secured to the other end of the rock shaft which as the latter is suddenly turned by the action of the driver on the lever (G) as he deposits the fare strikes the upper end of the pivoted hammer (n) causing its other end to strike the bell with suflicient force to ring the bell (m), a couple of holes for the escape of the sound being mortised through the upper side of the frame (C) into the compartment formed for the reception of the bell and its adjuncts.

To prevent the driver or any one else ab stracting money from the drawer it is first locked to the front side of the connecting piece (D), when it may be sealed, if deemed necessary, by the owner or his deputy, after which a plate of metal (p) is fitted over it, a couple of mortises being cut in it through which two lugs or loops (g) secured to the outside plate of the lock pass, through which the bolt (r) of a permutation lock (s) is passed so as to doubly lock it, the word or numbers requisite to open it being alone known to the owner or his deputy.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the same principle slightly modified can be applied as wel to steamboats as to omnibuses, and so with rail roads with this exception, that instead of being stationary, it may be made in the form of a portable box, into which it will be obligatory on the art of the passengers to deposit their fare, t e conductor being instantly dismissed if he receives a single fare or fails to cause the passenger to deposit it in the box.

I-Iaving thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The method herein set forth of preventing fraud. upon proprietors of public conveyanoes on the part of Conductors, drivers or my name before tWo Witnesses this thirteenth passengers by means of the late or apron day of October, ,1856.

lass lates (c and d), ever (G) and igawr (Dpwhen arranged and operating in J' B' SLAWSON' 5 the manner substantially as and for the pur- Witnesses:

poses described. ARTHUR C. WATKINs,

In testimony whereof I have subscribed P. HANNAY.

[FIRST PRINTED 1912.] 

